re: SotD: Raiders of the Lost Shinies (AKA - We lost Stevie)

Last night, as a spur of the moment thing, the SotD got together with their assortment of treasure maps and went treasure hunting. It was certainly an incredible adventure and full of laughs.

For those who don't know, when you have a map you need to decipher it and figure out where to go. This was a fun hurdle to pass at times. The second hurdle involves killing the monsters that appear when the map owner tries to open the treasure chest. But the real fun part... when a chest is opened not only do we get loot, there is a chance a portal will open to a hidden dungeon know as: The Lost Canals of Uznair/The Aquapolis (depending on the map used).

Once inside the rules are simple. Kill all the monsters in a room and open the chest for loot. The twist? There are two doors to choose from. Pick the correct door and you move to the next room for better loot. The wrong door and you are kicked out. Sounds simple? Well in a way it is... if you like being trolled. There seems to be no way to tell the doors apart and there were so many times we thought we got the wrong door only for the dungeon to go "tricked you" and we moved on. The same also happened the other way too... oh there were doors that were almost no nonsense... but the cut scene still didn’t help our raising heart rates... especially as we moved deeper in.

Honestly... you had to be there to understand the feeling. Myself (Xara) and Yogi's (and others I'm sure too) heart rates were getting so high near the end. The feeling of reaching the last door to the final treasure room (and yes we made a few times to the final doors) is indescribable. Of course Macaroni certainly didn’t help as he flitted around, trying to pick his doors.

Another fun twist was random monsters with additional rewards that appeared, throwing a reasonably well organized fight into chaos as we all rushed to kill it before it escaped. It was touch and go if we got all the monsters at once, or in a steady trickle, adding yet another twist considering the wide array of different monsters we had to deal with.

But after many maps we persevered. Thanks to lucky old Ox, who took lead for one of our delves into the depths, we finally made it to the last chamber (and there were times I thought we wouldn’t – these dungeons knew how to troll us). Boy it was a sight to behold and worth the effort (as seen below):

After beating all the monsters in the last room we claimed our rewards, all of us happy (too bad it wasn't a lvl70 map).

Sadly disaster struck as we reluctantly left the chamber to search for more treasure. Stevie (seen at the front), our Master of Shinies, was driven mad. He had been slowly succumbing to Gold Sickness at the sight of so much shinies, as we had progressed through the dungeon. This last chamber however, became too much for him, the sight of so much Gil drove him crazy and he didn't want to leave. Sadly he hasn’t been seen since (you will be missed)

On the upside we did make a new friend along the way called Fox Hunter, who saw us, asked to join and tagged along and was a fun part of the team up to the end.

So thank you everyone for such a fun and eventful unofficial night. It was a nice change of pace.

In other news, myself and Ox still continue our search for the elusive secret Fox FATE. Much to my delight, Ox has great taste and shares a passion for cute and shiny things. So just because the world needs more shinies (and because you can never have too many Carbuncles), here is me an Ox on our adventures, looking adorable while searching for the FATE.

Thank you all once again for your time and happy gaming,

Xaraphiel.

PS: Any visitors reading this (along with any SotD members) who make it to the last chamber of the Aquapolis, please look out for a Lalafell Paladin who answers to Stevie. May be hiding in a pile of shiny Gil and muttering to himself.

We have lost him and want him back. Reward offered.

You will need bigger shinies to lure him out and a bag to catch him. Return to SotD guild house in Lavender Beds, Ward 16, Plot 30.

re: SotD: Raiders of the Lost Shinies (AKA - We lost Stevie)

Years from now, explorers will tell tales around the campfire. Tales about a strange dungeon with untold treasures. A haunted dungeon....for whispers can be heard from the deep. Whispers that get louder the deeper you get. Until you can clearly make out what it is saying "The shinies, The Shinies, mine ! all mine !!!, My Precious Shinies..." They say it's the last thing you hear before you are suddenly stripped of all you money and glimmering things. That ...and the laughter of the insane.

re: SotD: Raiders of the Lost Shinies (AKA - We lost Stevie)

Superb write up for what looks a fab run Xara. Its a shame I had not been there though as I would have suggested a common sense solution. I would have had all of that gold picked up to lure Stevie back up with its shinyness and I would have carefully and gently kept it safe in my coffers... erm I mean the guild coffers, for the orphans.